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Treason
Lanik Mueller's birthright as heir to planet Treason's most powerful rulership will never be realized. He is a "rad"-radical regenerative-a freak who can regenerate injured flesh and trade extra body parts to the Offworld oppressors for iron. On a planet without hard metals, or the means of escape, iron offers the promise of freedom through the chance to build a spacecraft. But it is a promise that may never be fulfilled, as Lanik uncovers a treacherous conspiracy beyond his imagination. Now charged with a mission of conquest-and exile-Lanik devises a bold and dangerous plan to break the vicious chain of rivalry and bloodshed that enslaves the people of Treason as the Offworld never could. This compelling, suspenseful work of science fiction is set in a fantastical world that could only come from the brilliant imagination of Orson Scott Card.
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First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
Orson Scott Card
886 books20.7k followersOrson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 522 reviews
September 20, 2016
It's been years since I last read this, but I remember it very fondly. While it has some flaws, it is a really fun adventure story of a young man discovering himself & his world. And what a world! It's a very cool concept that Card has come up with. Part of the fun of the book is discovering this, so I won't say more in my review, except that it is a really interesting look at fanaticism & the evolution of societies.
There is a lot of adventure & it is almost a fantasy, yet always shelved as SF.
Also reviewed as an audio book here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Card says he writes his books to be read out loud & it works. As much as I liked this book in print, it was even better in that format.
There is a lot of adventure & it is almost a fantasy, yet always shelved as SF.
Also reviewed as an audio book here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Card says he writes his books to be read out loud & it works. As much as I liked this book in print, it was even better in that format.
September 20, 2016
I gave the book 4 stars, so why does this get 5? The reader was pretty good, but not enough to give it another star. No, it's just a very good book & I rounded up this time because I found out a couple of things about Card over the years.
This is his second novel, which makes this quite a feat. He published 2 others the year this came out (1979?) too. That's a fantastic accomplishment. He does a great foreword in this edition, too. He's pretty religious now from what I've heard & this book seems to be a search for morality in the face of materialism, complete with Original Sin. Thankfully, there wasn't anything for his or any other religion which would have been a huge turn off.
The book wasn't without its problems, but it was a huge undertaking & is exactly what SF should be about. So, I didn't let a little bit of broken logic get in the way of my enjoyment. He laid out an unlikely scenario that made his points perfectly.
He made some great points about the evils of rulers - once the fighting is done, does the common man really care? Of course not. We just want to be left alone to live our lives. The humble pastoral setting of Humping was over the top, though. They were kind because they were poor? Please. There's nothing noble about scratching a living from the dirt & living in poverty, but the Peace Corps was an in thing back then & it was a counterpoint.
Other problems & praise:
All told, it was a very interesting exploration of humanity. Not perfect, but certainly thought provoking, just what the best SF is all about.
Also reviewed as a paperback here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is his second novel, which makes this quite a feat. He published 2 others the year this came out (1979?) too. That's a fantastic accomplishment. He does a great foreword in this edition, too. He's pretty religious now from what I've heard & this book seems to be a search for morality in the face of materialism, complete with Original Sin. Thankfully, there wasn't anything for his or any other religion which would have been a huge turn off.
The book wasn't without its problems, but it was a huge undertaking & is exactly what SF should be about. So, I didn't let a little bit of broken logic get in the way of my enjoyment. He laid out an unlikely scenario that made his points perfectly.
He made some great points about the evils of rulers - once the fighting is done, does the common man really care? Of course not. We just want to be left alone to live our lives. The humble pastoral setting of Humping was over the top, though. They were kind because they were poor? Please. There's nothing noble about scratching a living from the dirt & living in poverty, but the Peace Corps was an in thing back then & it was a counterpoint.
Other problems & praise:
All told, it was a very interesting exploration of humanity. Not perfect, but certainly thought provoking, just what the best SF is all about.
Also reviewed as a paperback here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
February 14, 2017
If you've read any Orson Scott Card books besides Ender's Game, you know to expect crazy things to happen. But Treason-- a reworking of the second novel Card ever wrote-- takes things to a whole new level of crazy. How crazy? Well, the hero is a mutant Highlander hermaphrodite Nazi prince, and that's before he learns earth-bending from Peter Pan. Also, the whole Nazi thing is basically only brought up in the first chapter, and is never mentioned again or otherwise resolved. Not to mention that the hero and every other character in the story are the descendants of elitist rebels marooned on a planet and forced to fight medieval wars over the scarcest resource-- iron. And the ending, which I won't spoil, gets even crazier. You can't make this stuff up... except apparently if you're Orson Scott Card.
Now, there is definitely a point to the story. But-- and here genre fans will gasp in horror-- the point is not in the science fiction. Card is (I can only assume deliberately) playing extremely fast and loose with the consistency of the story, and with all of the realistic and scientific aspects. The point is character, and specifically (because this is a Card novel) one character, the hero, Lanik Mueller. As much as it has the trappings of science fiction, Treason really uses its setting more like fantasy or even magical realism, to explore Lanik's character and identity as he asks the questions, "who am I?" and "what kind of life should I live?".
Card pretty much nails this bizarre Jungian twist on sci-fi, crafting scenes and settings as fascinating as they are disturbing. There were just two glaring weaknesses that I saw. The first is that Card doesn't take the trouble to make his literary / philosophical drift clear-- he just drops the reader in the middle of the action. The second is that the conclusion isn't particularly surprising or satisfying. In fact it's kind of painful, and not in the good, cathartic way. Maybe this was an important part of Card's point... but if so, I couldn't tell, because of the first weakness. I still found Treason interesting and even enjoyable-- Card's a great writer-- but there was something missing. It's certainly a bold and informative experiment in science fiction, but in the end it's also a failed one.
Now, there is definitely a point to the story. But-- and here genre fans will gasp in horror-- the point is not in the science fiction. Card is (I can only assume deliberately) playing extremely fast and loose with the consistency of the story, and with all of the realistic and scientific aspects. The point is character, and specifically (because this is a Card novel) one character, the hero, Lanik Mueller. As much as it has the trappings of science fiction, Treason really uses its setting more like fantasy or even magical realism, to explore Lanik's character and identity as he asks the questions, "who am I?" and "what kind of life should I live?".
Card pretty much nails this bizarre Jungian twist on sci-fi, crafting scenes and settings as fascinating as they are disturbing. There were just two glaring weaknesses that I saw. The first is that Card doesn't take the trouble to make his literary / philosophical drift clear-- he just drops the reader in the middle of the action. The second is that the conclusion isn't particularly surprising or satisfying. In fact it's kind of painful, and not in the good, cathartic way. Maybe this was an important part of Card's point... but if so, I couldn't tell, because of the first weakness. I still found Treason interesting and even enjoyable-- Card's a great writer-- but there was something missing. It's certainly a bold and informative experiment in science fiction, but in the end it's also a failed one.
September 10, 2011
Just to give you a rough idea of how charmingly fudged up this book is; the protagonist Lanik Mueller is a teenage boy who can regenerate any body parts (yes, any) and he has two lovely-cutesy horses named Hitler and Himmler. This nice charming young man should be going on an adventure and marry a fairy princess at the end of the rainbow or something but as the plot would have it, Lanik is exiled from his kingdom and set on the path to uncover the conspiracy that enslave planet Treason. Treason is a prison planet without hard metals so all the rival clans are plotting schemes to get iron from the offworlders in order to be the first to build escape spaceship.
I really did tried but I’m going sit this one out. The idea of the book is very original and the story pretty intriguing right up to the point where Lanik goes through a phase where he has to find his true self, accept destiny, make peace with family, save the world…all while having one mother of a Messiah complex. The story goes round and round and ends up nowhere. Also Lanik’s journey took so long I eventually zoned out. I know I’m just a sci-fi novice here but dammit! my attention span has been forged by the weirding way of the Bene Gesserit and fortified by Heinlein’s lectures. You still managed to bore me to oblivion, Lanik Mueller!
I’d better make a fresh start with Ender series
I really did tried but I’m going sit this one out. The idea of the book is very original and the story pretty intriguing right up to the point where Lanik goes through a phase where he has to find his true self, accept destiny, make peace with family, save the world…all while having one mother of a Messiah complex. The story goes round and round and ends up nowhere. Also Lanik’s journey took so long I eventually zoned out. I know I’m just a sci-fi novice here but dammit! my attention span has been forged by the weirding way of the Bene Gesserit and fortified by Heinlein’s lectures. You still managed to bore me to oblivion, Lanik Mueller!
I’d better make a fresh start with Ender series
January 25, 2009
I'd give it a star and a half. The story was cool, but right in the middle of the book, the plot ended and a new one started. It should have been 2 books, the first and a sequel. Also, it was really uninentionally funny, the extra arms and tits everywhere, and the way the main character would look at his breasts and feel maternal, hilarious. The writing was terrible, cheesy, the characters flat, the special powers were played out like a geek who gets picked on at school wishing he could do THIS and THIS to his enemies. I read Ender's Game a few years ago, and thought it was much better. I have to give the writer the benefit of a doubt, you know, it was his second book I think.
November 24, 2018
Yikes! I'm a fan of Orson Scott Card. He's easily my favorite author. He's often talked about as an egotistical jerk who you just shouldn't bother with. That, or he's just dismissed as crazy. (Thanks Hank Green. You really know how to make an argument on a hot-button issue.) I've had the pleasure of meeting him and he was just the sweetest guy imaginable. I've also read The Worthing Saga and The Folk of the Fringe and I thought they were absolutely phenomenal. He's made it very clear that he doesn't write "Mormon fiction". And in the cases when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is brought up in his fiction, he's often quite satirical. This can be seen in the cases of Ender's mother, or Deaver Teague, and many others.
I only bring this up because I've been able to discover why he writes the way he does. His fiction is very different from mine because he's not afraid to tackle bizarre situations. Well... with Treason, that couldn't be any truer. In fact, as I was writing this review, I had to take a star off because it felt too bizarre in my memory. And I read Magic Street! That should get me some credit, right?
Let's talk about the story for a second. Very fascinating concept. Radical Regeneratives are treated as monsters among society, but they can grow extra body parts that can be sold in exchange for metal to build a spaceship so that they can eventually leave the prison planet Treason. That's a pretty sweet concept! I dig that!
But as I've noticed with Orson Scott Card, he takes this as an opportunity to prove that he's edgy. I can't stand this with ANY author, and that counts with Brandon Sanderson too. Please remember, I love OSC's work. I just can't deny that he seems to jump at the chance to talk about excretion, sex, et cetera. And it's just really uncomfortable most of the time.
In the beginning, they talk about how Lanik Mueller, the protagonist (I think), is a Rad and how Rads work, they bring up another fascinating point: hormones would likely change how Rads grow and mature. What better way to explain that than puberty?
Well, I make this sound like an interesting point, but the way the book does it is describing how Lanik has grown breasts and how there was another girl who grew a penis and used it to pee on people in protest to... something. It's just bizarre.
I was reading this part while on a bus and a guy looked over my shoulder and got quite weirded out. Don't blame him.
Okay, fine, I can live with that (though I will say I nearly dropped the book there). But then his dad basically sexually assaults it. I think I still remember the quote... "You're soft and womanly. No man would follow you." "Except into bed," said his mother. I'll come back to why this is important later, but I just want to make sure this is clear: I still think the concept is genius. It's the execution that turns me off.
Before I talk any more about the story, I should also bring up that this is technically not written in the OSC voice you're familiar with. It's in first-person... This is a totally personal preference, but I don't like his first-person voice, especially because I have basically no idea if I'm supposed to like Lanik Mueller. He's smarmy, whiny, and can't seem to figure out if he likes his breasts or not.
Figure out, okay!? Want to rub your breasts because it feels good? Cool. Just say it and move on. It gets really awkward when you tell me that you think you're supposed to feel motherly or that you're apparently irresistible to men. It's just weird and annoying.
Back to the story...
I'm not going to go through the entire story. Now I'm just going to go through a few parts of the book that I thought were really odd.
The scene when Mwaba-Mawa (I think that's how you spell it (I really hate stupid names. Looking at you Brandon Sanderson.)) shows Lanik how to "drop" was just weird...
If you're on a spaceship and pooping is a legitimate concern, then, by all means, show me how you do it. That sounds really interesting! But when you're living at the top of a tree, I could figure out well enough on my own that your crap had to go somewhere. Naturally, it had to be down. I don't need some tall, black lady illustrating how to poop and when to do it.
The scene where Mwaba-Mawa basically rapes Lanik was weird. In fact, all of the parts where Lanik was basically raped were weird.
This is going to come across really strangely, but I can't stand bad rape scenes. I hate rape in general, but it can be an effective form of storytelling. Cut and dry, that's just a fact. Most authors use rape as a tool to either A) Describe how sexy their character actually is and then slap the reader on the wrist for thinking so because, "LOOK, THEY'RE BEING RAPED, YOU SICKO!" Or B) to get unneeded sympathy for a character. We all should know by now that rape is bad. Stop trying to use it as a tool to make someone look cool.
I'm going to bring up two rape scenes written by Orson Scott Card. One is from The Folk of the Fringe and one is from this book.
In The Folk of the Fringe, two girls are orally raped by two bushwhackers. This was a very effective scene because it actually had many characters involved. Not all as victims or as attackers, but as scared onlookers. And it was able to show the character of Teague as not only an anti-hero, Han Solo type, but because we also got to see how the two girls recovered from the attack. It was uncomfortable to read, as it should have been, and it didn't try to justify any horrible action.
Now with this book, there are just a bunch of different cases of rape or sexual assault, and they all seem to end in ways that I didn't think they should. Lanik's dad gropes him and it was just weird to think about because later, it just turns out that he's a good guy sweetheart the whole time.
WHAT? He freakin' groped the guy! HIS SON. And humiliates him in front of his jerk family. And to make matters stranger, Lanik wonders if because his dad did that because Lanik's attractive.
So he uses this advantage of boobs to get where he wants. But there's a bit in here that I think should be noted: the most womanly parts about him are his breasts and the fact that he has long blonde hair. THAT'S IT. Nowhere does it say his eyes are motherly or that he's got real nice girly skin. It's seriously just his breasts.
Anyway... Mwaba-Mawa later tries to have sex with him. There's a bit where she gropes him and the texture of her skin changes to be rougher and manlier on cue, but that never went anywhere so WHY DID THAT HAPPEN? Oh, and what is one of the considered solutions to this problem? TO CUT OFF - wait, I need you to understand the logic here - to TAKE HIS DAGGER AND CHOP OFF HIS - wait... do you not get it? HE WAS GONNA CHOP OFF HIS JUNK.
ACTUALLY WHY?
Now, he doesn't end up doing this, and he explains why in the narrative, but... WHY? Why was that even considered? "Oh, it'll just grow back cuz Imma Rad." Uh, no? Like, it will, but how would you do that without Mwaba knowing and also chopping off your penis won't suddenly give you ovaries or a vagina. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he has ovaries. Dunno if he can get pregnant and I don't care to.) Lanik is portrayed as this super smart, athletic, sex magnet in both his manly man form and as the womanly Rad form, and THIS was something he considered??
One MORE case of stupid rape was the two guys somewhere. The rape happened so suddenly that I forgot where Lanik even was. May have been a beach? Desert maybe? Lanik just smiles at these two guys and in a blink they're groping him and crap and it's all just really weird. But I don't feel any sympathy for him this time because first, he expected it to happen, and second, the scene happened so that he can show how manly he actually is. Yeah, he just kills the two guys. Cool I guess?
Last one. There's a bit where he is in a cabin somewhere and he meets this girl who says that she's waiting for the right one. I honestly thought we were going to get something meaningful in this sexual travesty, but nope! Turns out, the girl is an old guy using some illusory science/magic and he makes his girl image naked, starts straddling Lanik so that she can get close enough to stab him. Through some science/magic that Lanik learned halfway through, he's able to freeze time and that allows him to see that the hot naked girl is an old guy...? And then I think he kills the guy - I really don't remember.
Enough rape... let's talk about something good.
...
It was well-written, I guess. I normally hate first-person books, but he does a good job. I know earlier I said I don't like his first-person voice, but that's just because I'm so much more comfortable with third-person omniscient. It was weird specifically to me.
But... well, I'm not sure if this book would have been better in his traditional voice.
To be clear, this was his next book after Ender's Game. So... "traditionally" isn't really fair because he was still discovering who he was as an author, and that's fine. I can appreciate this for the story it tells about the author.
But that's about all I can say. I would have enjoyed the science/magic more if it just went for it. Lanik pretty much becomes a god on Treason. I'm not sure if there's anything he CAN'T do.
This book was also written before his Worthing stuff, so back then, he didn't understand that Metal rivet covers are for sci-fi, trees are for fantasy. This is a tree story no matter how you try to slice it. The cover looks amazing, but much like the Ender books, absolutely nothing on the cover happens in the book. (One exception to that is Shadows in Flight which I think is cheating because the whole book takes place on a spaceship and/or on an asteroid, but I digress.) You SHOULD judge a book by it's cover. That's why it's there. For you to think, "Huh, that's cool. I would like to read that please!"
Okay, now I'm going to tackle the ending. I just want to make it clear that I finished what is often said to be his most bizarre book and liked it. So for me not to like this ending and story must have been a realy doozy. It ends with this girl, Saranna, who was frozen in time and then being let out of slowtime. She asks Lanik (who now is a real man instead of a dude with breasts) to return while he's still young enough to want her. Okay, fair enough. So he comes back after four years in his time and he wins the war or something and now he has Saranna all to himself. The last two pages just couldn't resist saying that they make love to each other a lot. Cliché and stupid.
You know what, I skimmed over Saranna a lot. Let me just say this: I have NO IDEA what is so appealing about her other than she's pretty and supposedly loyal. But I think there's like three different cases where they're in Ku Kuei and he sees her having sex with people.
Loyal? Not in your wildest dreams.
I left so much out. I don't even think I mentioned the Schwartzes or the fact that Lanik can pretty much clone himself at all, so I'll just say this: this book is bizarre and easily my least favorite Orson Scott Card book right now. I have a lot of his books to go, so you might see me again later. My rating of two stars stands.
I only bring this up because I've been able to discover why he writes the way he does. His fiction is very different from mine because he's not afraid to tackle bizarre situations. Well... with Treason, that couldn't be any truer. In fact, as I was writing this review, I had to take a star off because it felt too bizarre in my memory. And I read Magic Street! That should get me some credit, right?
Let's talk about the story for a second. Very fascinating concept. Radical Regeneratives are treated as monsters among society, but they can grow extra body parts that can be sold in exchange for metal to build a spaceship so that they can eventually leave the prison planet Treason. That's a pretty sweet concept! I dig that!
But as I've noticed with Orson Scott Card, he takes this as an opportunity to prove that he's edgy. I can't stand this with ANY author, and that counts with Brandon Sanderson too. Please remember, I love OSC's work. I just can't deny that he seems to jump at the chance to talk about excretion, sex, et cetera. And it's just really uncomfortable most of the time.
In the beginning, they talk about how Lanik Mueller, the protagonist (I think), is a Rad and how Rads work, they bring up another fascinating point: hormones would likely change how Rads grow and mature. What better way to explain that than puberty?
Well, I make this sound like an interesting point, but the way the book does it is describing how Lanik has grown breasts and how there was another girl who grew a penis and used it to pee on people in protest to... something. It's just bizarre.
I was reading this part while on a bus and a guy looked over my shoulder and got quite weirded out. Don't blame him.
Okay, fine, I can live with that (though I will say I nearly dropped the book there). But then his dad basically sexually assaults it. I think I still remember the quote... "You're soft and womanly. No man would follow you." "Except into bed," said his mother. I'll come back to why this is important later, but I just want to make sure this is clear: I still think the concept is genius. It's the execution that turns me off.
Before I talk any more about the story, I should also bring up that this is technically not written in the OSC voice you're familiar with. It's in first-person... This is a totally personal preference, but I don't like his first-person voice, especially because I have basically no idea if I'm supposed to like Lanik Mueller. He's smarmy, whiny, and can't seem to figure out if he likes his breasts or not.
Figure out, okay!? Want to rub your breasts because it feels good? Cool. Just say it and move on. It gets really awkward when you tell me that you think you're supposed to feel motherly or that you're apparently irresistible to men. It's just weird and annoying.
Back to the story...
I'm not going to go through the entire story. Now I'm just going to go through a few parts of the book that I thought were really odd.
The scene when Mwaba-Mawa (I think that's how you spell it (I really hate stupid names. Looking at you Brandon Sanderson.)) shows Lanik how to "drop" was just weird...
If you're on a spaceship and pooping is a legitimate concern, then, by all means, show me how you do it. That sounds really interesting! But when you're living at the top of a tree, I could figure out well enough on my own that your crap had to go somewhere. Naturally, it had to be down. I don't need some tall, black lady illustrating how to poop and when to do it.
The scene where Mwaba-Mawa basically rapes Lanik was weird. In fact, all of the parts where Lanik was basically raped were weird.
This is going to come across really strangely, but I can't stand bad rape scenes. I hate rape in general, but it can be an effective form of storytelling. Cut and dry, that's just a fact. Most authors use rape as a tool to either A) Describe how sexy their character actually is and then slap the reader on the wrist for thinking so because, "LOOK, THEY'RE BEING RAPED, YOU SICKO!" Or B) to get unneeded sympathy for a character. We all should know by now that rape is bad. Stop trying to use it as a tool to make someone look cool.
I'm going to bring up two rape scenes written by Orson Scott Card. One is from The Folk of the Fringe and one is from this book.
In The Folk of the Fringe, two girls are orally raped by two bushwhackers. This was a very effective scene because it actually had many characters involved. Not all as victims or as attackers, but as scared onlookers. And it was able to show the character of Teague as not only an anti-hero, Han Solo type, but because we also got to see how the two girls recovered from the attack. It was uncomfortable to read, as it should have been, and it didn't try to justify any horrible action.
Now with this book, there are just a bunch of different cases of rape or sexual assault, and they all seem to end in ways that I didn't think they should. Lanik's dad gropes him and it was just weird to think about because later, it just turns out that he's a good guy sweetheart the whole time.
WHAT? He freakin' groped the guy! HIS SON. And humiliates him in front of his jerk family. And to make matters stranger, Lanik wonders if because his dad did that because Lanik's attractive.
So he uses this advantage of boobs to get where he wants. But there's a bit in here that I think should be noted: the most womanly parts about him are his breasts and the fact that he has long blonde hair. THAT'S IT. Nowhere does it say his eyes are motherly or that he's got real nice girly skin. It's seriously just his breasts.
Anyway... Mwaba-Mawa later tries to have sex with him. There's a bit where she gropes him and the texture of her skin changes to be rougher and manlier on cue, but that never went anywhere so WHY DID THAT HAPPEN? Oh, and what is one of the considered solutions to this problem? TO CUT OFF - wait, I need you to understand the logic here - to TAKE HIS DAGGER AND CHOP OFF HIS - wait... do you not get it? HE WAS GONNA CHOP OFF HIS JUNK.
ACTUALLY WHY?
Now, he doesn't end up doing this, and he explains why in the narrative, but... WHY? Why was that even considered? "Oh, it'll just grow back cuz Imma Rad." Uh, no? Like, it will, but how would you do that without Mwaba knowing and also chopping off your penis won't suddenly give you ovaries or a vagina. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he has ovaries. Dunno if he can get pregnant and I don't care to.) Lanik is portrayed as this super smart, athletic, sex magnet in both his manly man form and as the womanly Rad form, and THIS was something he considered??
One MORE case of stupid rape was the two guys somewhere. The rape happened so suddenly that I forgot where Lanik even was. May have been a beach? Desert maybe? Lanik just smiles at these two guys and in a blink they're groping him and crap and it's all just really weird. But I don't feel any sympathy for him this time because first, he expected it to happen, and second, the scene happened so that he can show how manly he actually is. Yeah, he just kills the two guys. Cool I guess?
Last one. There's a bit where he is in a cabin somewhere and he meets this girl who says that she's waiting for the right one. I honestly thought we were going to get something meaningful in this sexual travesty, but nope! Turns out, the girl is an old guy using some illusory science/magic and he makes his girl image naked, starts straddling Lanik so that she can get close enough to stab him. Through some science/magic that Lanik learned halfway through, he's able to freeze time and that allows him to see that the hot naked girl is an old guy...? And then I think he kills the guy - I really don't remember.
Enough rape... let's talk about something good.
...
It was well-written, I guess. I normally hate first-person books, but he does a good job. I know earlier I said I don't like his first-person voice, but that's just because I'm so much more comfortable with third-person omniscient. It was weird specifically to me.
But... well, I'm not sure if this book would have been better in his traditional voice.
To be clear, this was his next book after Ender's Game. So... "traditionally" isn't really fair because he was still discovering who he was as an author, and that's fine. I can appreciate this for the story it tells about the author.
But that's about all I can say. I would have enjoyed the science/magic more if it just went for it. Lanik pretty much becomes a god on Treason. I'm not sure if there's anything he CAN'T do.
This book was also written before his Worthing stuff, so back then, he didn't understand that Metal rivet covers are for sci-fi, trees are for fantasy. This is a tree story no matter how you try to slice it. The cover looks amazing, but much like the Ender books, absolutely nothing on the cover happens in the book. (One exception to that is Shadows in Flight which I think is cheating because the whole book takes place on a spaceship and/or on an asteroid, but I digress.) You SHOULD judge a book by it's cover. That's why it's there. For you to think, "Huh, that's cool. I would like to read that please!"
Okay, now I'm going to tackle the ending. I just want to make it clear that I finished what is often said to be his most bizarre book and liked it. So for me not to like this ending and story must have been a realy doozy. It ends with this girl, Saranna, who was frozen in time and then being let out of slowtime. She asks Lanik (who now is a real man instead of a dude with breasts) to return while he's still young enough to want her. Okay, fair enough. So he comes back after four years in his time and he wins the war or something and now he has Saranna all to himself. The last two pages just couldn't resist saying that they make love to each other a lot. Cliché and stupid.
You know what, I skimmed over Saranna a lot. Let me just say this: I have NO IDEA what is so appealing about her other than she's pretty and supposedly loyal. But I think there's like three different cases where they're in Ku Kuei and he sees her having sex with people.
Loyal? Not in your wildest dreams.
I left so much out. I don't even think I mentioned the Schwartzes or the fact that Lanik can pretty much clone himself at all, so I'll just say this: this book is bizarre and easily my least favorite Orson Scott Card book right now. I have a lot of his books to go, so you might see me again later. My rating of two stars stands.
May 16, 2025
Sold to me as nazis in space where they continue their path of self destruction on an unforgiving planet, I had mixed expectations coming into this. It opens with a man who has grown breasts and ovaries, banished from his ostensibly nazi castle, and then mounts his horse Hitler and cargo horse Himmler to escape judgement. I was prepared for the dumbest book I’ve ever read. But I am nonplussed, this is by far one of the best male coming of age books I have ever read.
Card perfectly maps the mind of a sensitive adolescent young man and follows its development through the civilizations that have sprouted from the planet called Treason. Lanik, the protagonist, is violent, horny and hateful. Everything must either be killed, screwed or destroyed. When this policy begins to fall apart a deeper understanding of his world must be developed. Card is able develop a subtle transformation slowly as Lanik embraces or rejects different philosophies he finds in different cultures. Raw masculinity, legalism, pacifism, absurdism, and finally a man.
Card perfectly maps the mind of a sensitive adolescent young man and follows its development through the civilizations that have sprouted from the planet called Treason. Lanik, the protagonist, is violent, horny and hateful. Everything must either be killed, screwed or destroyed. When this policy begins to fall apart a deeper understanding of his world must be developed. Card is able develop a subtle transformation slowly as Lanik embraces or rejects different philosophies he finds in different cultures. Raw masculinity, legalism, pacifism, absurdism, and finally a man.
August 11, 2010
When I was a teenager I tried really hard to like Orson Scott Card’s books. I read Ender’s Game and loved it. I read Speaker for the Dead and was bored out of my mind. Then I read eight or ten of his other books and had a similar experience.
I finally gave up. I’ve moved on, mostly. He does have some intriguing ideas that make me think about reading his books every once in awhile. (This happens when I read about Terry Brooks as well – though usually the desire to read his books is more of a “Hmm I wonder how that turned out?” which almost invariably has the answer “Huh? What? I wasn’t asleep.”)
Treason was loaned to me by somebody who frequently asked me if I was reading it yet or I probably never would have. This is a pre-Ender book – as in written before Ender’s Game.
The writing is sparse and fast – a trademark of early Card – and it feels unpolished in places. His prose is never showy or fancy but merely adequate to get the job done. The story, on the other hand, is surprisingly layered in so many ways that it felt more like Timothy Zahn than Orson Scott Card. Events from early in the book are layered back in later and then folded in again when you think you are done with them. It really did keep me guessing all the way through.
I enjoyed this book. It was sort of a return to the early Card that I enjoyed so much when I read Ender’s Game. It feels kind of like Ender’s Game and the Alvin Maker series mashed together in one book. It’s chock full of ideas and mostly feels more like a fantasy than science fiction. If you’ve been looking for something by Card to read then I would recommend this book over most of his others.
I finally gave up. I’ve moved on, mostly. He does have some intriguing ideas that make me think about reading his books every once in awhile. (This happens when I read about Terry Brooks as well – though usually the desire to read his books is more of a “Hmm I wonder how that turned out?” which almost invariably has the answer “Huh? What? I wasn’t asleep.”)
Treason was loaned to me by somebody who frequently asked me if I was reading it yet or I probably never would have. This is a pre-Ender book – as in written before Ender’s Game.
The writing is sparse and fast – a trademark of early Card – and it feels unpolished in places. His prose is never showy or fancy but merely adequate to get the job done. The story, on the other hand, is surprisingly layered in so many ways that it felt more like Timothy Zahn than Orson Scott Card. Events from early in the book are layered back in later and then folded in again when you think you are done with them. It really did keep me guessing all the way through.
I enjoyed this book. It was sort of a return to the early Card that I enjoyed so much when I read Ender’s Game. It feels kind of like Ender’s Game and the Alvin Maker series mashed together in one book. It’s chock full of ideas and mostly feels more like a fantasy than science fiction. If you’ve been looking for something by Card to read then I would recommend this book over most of his others.
March 6, 2014
-Revisión innecesaria de una obra escrita por el autor cuando estaba comenzando a darse a conocer.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Lanik Mueller debe heredar en un futuro los dominios de su reino/familia, cuyo don es la regeneración de su organismo, pero al ser diagnosticado como regenerador radical su posición social y familiar cambia totalmente. Su padre, combinando destierro, política interna y espionaje internacional, le manda a investigar cómo otra familia/reino, los Nkumai, están haciendo crecer sus dominios por la fuerza y a una velocidad alarmante. Y es que estas familias, junto a muchas otras, descienden de los hombres que la República desterró hacia ya muchos siglos al planeta Traición como castigo por conspirar contra su dominio. Novela que es una revisión y reedición de una obra del propio autor escrita nueve años antes con el nombre de “Un planeta llamado Traición”.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Lanik Mueller debe heredar en un futuro los dominios de su reino/familia, cuyo don es la regeneración de su organismo, pero al ser diagnosticado como regenerador radical su posición social y familiar cambia totalmente. Su padre, combinando destierro, política interna y espionaje internacional, le manda a investigar cómo otra familia/reino, los Nkumai, están haciendo crecer sus dominios por la fuerza y a una velocidad alarmante. Y es que estas familias, junto a muchas otras, descienden de los hombres que la República desterró hacia ya muchos siglos al planeta Traición como castigo por conspirar contra su dominio. Novela que es una revisión y reedición de una obra del propio autor escrita nueve años antes con el nombre de “Un planeta llamado Traición”.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
February 9, 2013
You need to be able to turn off your reality and feasibility filters for this one. Once you do that you can enjoy the imaginative and creative world the author has created. This book was fun, interesting, philosophical, and I enjoyed it. I don't think it would be for everyone. Some may consider it silly. If as a kid you had a powerful imagination you might like it. Remember back when you believed anything was possible. That is the place in my mind this story took me. Cool book!
February 10, 2023
Kinda weird book. Like a Deadpool or Wolverine comic but done with a sober and sombre tone. Twas a stretch to ‘relate’ to the character—there was nothing human left to tell of such an invincible person. It wasn’t credible that such fictionalized beings could harbor the selfsame human traits as flesh & blood people. But it was still interesting enough. Card kinda plods along, and it feels like he enjoys hearing his own writing a lil too much but, there’s enough to wonder about.
March 6, 2009
Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, I read 22 of O.S. Card's sci-fi and fantasy novels (including the five that mirror The Book of Mormon without knowing it). While Card’s plotlines do vary, unlike, say Clive Cussler (my favorite author during middle school), I grew to be aware of his deficiencies as a writer. He has certain phraseologies that he returns to far too frequently and his prose lacks sophistication. In fact, it's fairly juvenile. Also, as I got further into Card's oeuvre, I saw that as he got older, his stories became less and less exciting and his writing grew weaker. Fewer moments of action, more talking and moralizing. Sermonizing even. And it wasn't very convincing at that.
So. This novel, Treason, written early in Card's career, is his best. It's exciting, imaginative, and, for Card, deep. If you're going to read Card, which I don't highly recommend, read this and not that Ender/Alvin Maker/Homecoming crud.
So. This novel, Treason, written early in Card's career, is his best. It's exciting, imaginative, and, for Card, deep. If you're going to read Card, which I don't highly recommend, read this and not that Ender/Alvin Maker/Homecoming crud.
June 17, 2020
I started out sceptical and bewildered about the weirdness and gory details in the beginning, but ended up loving this strange, quirky and creative story. It's like a mix between sci-fi, fantasy and an adventure fairy tale. The pacing is great, the ideas are exploding here and there and are knit together beautifully in the end, and I went from feeling disgusted to intrigued, excited and grateful. This is a wonderful, imaginative story that stays true to its own whimsical logic and premiss, but I imagine fans of hard-core sci-fi will see a bunch of plot holes and perhaps remain sceptical. I had a great time reading it though!
January 11, 2009
Card's second published book, the one I read redone slightly in later years. I kept puzzling over the fact that it seemed familiar, then I realized, yes, I'd read it before. One scene had really stuck in my head, but the rest had dissolved away. Even so, it is a good fast read with some interesting 'families.' Glad I read it again.
January 30, 2008
This usually gets overshadowed by the Ender series and the Alvin Maker series. This is excellent sci-fi with one of the most bizarre heros ever. A radical regenerative. You'll know what it means soon enough.
The last line stuck with me a long time. Read it!
The last line stuck with me a long time. Read it!
September 5, 2016
This book was ok. It reminded me a lot of his other non Enderverse works. Not his best but still a good read.
February 23, 2016
This book blew my mind in middle school.
July 5, 2016
Hace nada (20 añicos no son nada) le cayó un 9/10. creo que era la época de mi amor desinteresado por Card.
May 8, 2020
Novel·la extensa que exposa el viarge iniciàtic que emprén Lanik Mueller pel planeta Traïció, on coneixerà les diverses Famílies que l'habiten, totes elles exiliades del seu planeta d'origen. La cosa més valorada és el ferro, amb el qual es podria fabricar una nau espacial per tal d'escapar-ne. Però durant el seu viatge descobrirà secrets d'altres gents que el deixaran parat. La novel·la es llegeix de pressa i no es fa mai pesada, i combina la fantasia amb la ciència-ficció i les aventures.
December 27, 2008
In my first foray into fiction other than "A Song of Ice and Fire" in a long while, I read "Treason" by Orson Scott Card a couple of days ago. A noteworthy event, believe you me.
As his second novel (revised version, like with "Hot Sleep") it is in some ways quite raw. The first third of the book was essentially transsexual erotic fiction. So if that was the bait, consider me hooked. I somehow don't think it was.
The story was told from a first person future perspective. This was probably the novel's biggest fault. This perspective naturally leads you to piece together plot points that the reader has yet to see. Thus, outside of aspects of the universe that you haven't yet been introduced to, there is no way to surprise the reader.
Luckily for Card, his strength lies in the ability to create detailed and interesting worlds to explore. So even though our hero Lanik Mueller never did anything that he hadn't previously hinted that he would do, his wanderings are still rather interesting. In some sense, he has a very Odysseus-eque travel. On this universe-centered story telling, "Treason" is most similar to his other works "Hot Sleep" and "Wyrms" and "Hart's Hope". All four tend to decentralize the importance of the characters and see them more as eventual and necessary arrivals on the stage of the great time-dependent differential equation of their respective worlds. Lanik Mueller isn't important, but someone like him is.
Unfortunately for us Lanik Meuller seems to operate with the our modern day moral structure and not his own. This is a consistency with Card though. The genius of Heinlein is that he creates elaborate places that have their own detailed and intense corresponding ethical structure. And even while doing so, he denies the existence of absolute moral relativism (see "Farnham's Freehold"). The genius of Asimov is that he was able to single-handedly define and expand the morality of robots and AI. The genius of Bradbury is to point out those human universalities that exist regardless of technology level. From all of the Card I have read (which is a lot) he never seems to care about these things.
The foreign aspects of his works are in the science/magic alone, and the similarities lie in that his characters act as if they were to pinnacle of modern personality types. Perhaps his books have a broader appeal because there is some cold, familiar comfort in this setup. However, in retrospect, I am tempted to think it is somewhat of a cop out.
Maybe he isn't good at mixing up moral frames of reference so he steers away from it in general. Which is fine. But this gets back to my main criticism that the main characters are more static than my bar of interest would normally allow. Luckily, his early works tended to be short, not giving time for his characters to do much other than explore the world.
So in summary, I liked it. I couldn't put it down. But whether this was because I was fascinated with his uncomfortable writing of transsexual, lesbian, and gay sexuality or whether I liked the world is hard to say.
As his second novel (revised version, like with "Hot Sleep") it is in some ways quite raw. The first third of the book was essentially transsexual erotic fiction. So if that was the bait, consider me hooked. I somehow don't think it was.
The story was told from a first person future perspective. This was probably the novel's biggest fault. This perspective naturally leads you to piece together plot points that the reader has yet to see. Thus, outside of aspects of the universe that you haven't yet been introduced to, there is no way to surprise the reader.
Luckily for Card, his strength lies in the ability to create detailed and interesting worlds to explore. So even though our hero Lanik Mueller never did anything that he hadn't previously hinted that he would do, his wanderings are still rather interesting. In some sense, he has a very Odysseus-eque travel. On this universe-centered story telling, "Treason" is most similar to his other works "Hot Sleep" and "Wyrms" and "Hart's Hope". All four tend to decentralize the importance of the characters and see them more as eventual and necessary arrivals on the stage of the great time-dependent differential equation of their respective worlds. Lanik Mueller isn't important, but someone like him is.
Unfortunately for us Lanik Meuller seems to operate with the our modern day moral structure and not his own. This is a consistency with Card though. The genius of Heinlein is that he creates elaborate places that have their own detailed and intense corresponding ethical structure. And even while doing so, he denies the existence of absolute moral relativism (see "Farnham's Freehold"). The genius of Asimov is that he was able to single-handedly define and expand the morality of robots and AI. The genius of Bradbury is to point out those human universalities that exist regardless of technology level. From all of the Card I have read (which is a lot) he never seems to care about these things.
The foreign aspects of his works are in the science/magic alone, and the similarities lie in that his characters act as if they were to pinnacle of modern personality types. Perhaps his books have a broader appeal because there is some cold, familiar comfort in this setup. However, in retrospect, I am tempted to think it is somewhat of a cop out.
Maybe he isn't good at mixing up moral frames of reference so he steers away from it in general. Which is fine. But this gets back to my main criticism that the main characters are more static than my bar of interest would normally allow. Luckily, his early works tended to be short, not giving time for his characters to do much other than explore the world.
So in summary, I liked it. I couldn't put it down. But whether this was because I was fascinated with his uncomfortable writing of transsexual, lesbian, and gay sexuality or whether I liked the world is hard to say.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2008
Card has made his mark on the speculative fiction world primarily through the moral complexity of the stories he tells. His characters face difficult ethical questions, and the result tends to be an interesting exploration of the issues raised, wrapped up in excellent storytelling.
Treason is a revisitation of Card's second novel, A Planet Called Treason. By his own count, he has re-written about 10% of the novel, maintaining the plot and simply refining the storytelling. It does seem very evidently to be one of his earlier works, but I believe that works to the story's advantage. He says in his author's note at the beginning that
It is, I think, this very simplicity which makes Treason work better than some of his more mature works. In some of his later work, I sometimes feel Card is working hard to show us how brilliant he is (and he is), how well he understands the human condition. Though I love a good deal of his work, at times it comes across as heavy-handed. Treason feels much more intuitive and far more subtle, and this is what makes it work, I think.
Written in the soft science fiction tradition that feels almost more like magic than science, Card tells the tale of Lanik Mueller, the dispossessed heir of the powerful Mueller family, whose genetic legacy is the ability to heal from almost any wound. Lanik's exile sets him on a path to learning more about the planet Treason on which he lives, a resource-poor planet which serves as prison to the descendants of a cabal that committed unspeakable, despotic treason millennia ago. The descendants of each of the original exiles have developed particular talents--such as the Muellers' regenerative abilities--that allow them to survive on this planet or even to trade something valuable to the Offworlders in exchange for the iron which is scarce on Treason but which gives a distinct advantage to the families who possess it as they struggle for power against the other families. Lanik is forced to come to a greater understanding of his world--its peoples, its powers, its history--and a greater understanding of himself.
In many ways, the story is the prototypical fantasy story of a young hero, wandering alone through the world, discovering great power within himself; it is the prototypical fantasy story of a young prince who must reclaim his birthright. It might be rather stale in other hands, yet it manages to be something more, because as Lanik grows and changes, his goals--not just his means of achieving them--grow and change as well.
Treason is a revisitation of Card's second novel, A Planet Called Treason. By his own count, he has re-written about 10% of the novel, maintaining the plot and simply refining the storytelling. It does seem very evidently to be one of his earlier works, but I believe that works to the story's advantage. He says in his author's note at the beginning that
This revision is not an attempt to tell the story of Lanik Mueller as if I were writing it for the first time in 1988--that novel would be half again as long as this, with much more time spent on developing other characters and relationships. Instead, this edition retains the simplicity of the original, the story of one young man's discovery and transformation of his world and of himself.
It is, I think, this very simplicity which makes Treason work better than some of his more mature works. In some of his later work, I sometimes feel Card is working hard to show us how brilliant he is (and he is), how well he understands the human condition. Though I love a good deal of his work, at times it comes across as heavy-handed. Treason feels much more intuitive and far more subtle, and this is what makes it work, I think.
Written in the soft science fiction tradition that feels almost more like magic than science, Card tells the tale of Lanik Mueller, the dispossessed heir of the powerful Mueller family, whose genetic legacy is the ability to heal from almost any wound. Lanik's exile sets him on a path to learning more about the planet Treason on which he lives, a resource-poor planet which serves as prison to the descendants of a cabal that committed unspeakable, despotic treason millennia ago. The descendants of each of the original exiles have developed particular talents--such as the Muellers' regenerative abilities--that allow them to survive on this planet or even to trade something valuable to the Offworlders in exchange for the iron which is scarce on Treason but which gives a distinct advantage to the families who possess it as they struggle for power against the other families. Lanik is forced to come to a greater understanding of his world--its peoples, its powers, its history--and a greater understanding of himself.
In many ways, the story is the prototypical fantasy story of a young hero, wandering alone through the world, discovering great power within himself; it is the prototypical fantasy story of a young prince who must reclaim his birthright. It might be rather stale in other hands, yet it manages to be something more, because as Lanik grows and changes, his goals--not just his means of achieving them--grow and change as well.
August 19, 2011
This book was...difficult to explain. But I'll give it a go--it deserves that much.
The setting is that of a prison planet, inhabited by family-based clans that have all been exiled--paying penance a thousand years after a failed uprising. Each family has advanced dramatically in a particular area of specialty ranging from physics, to philosophy, to genetics, and offer their particular/peculiar services in exchange for an element that is critical to their eventual escape, but not conveniently native to the planet – Iron.
The story itself follows a young man named Lanik, who's family have the genetic capacity to rapidly regenerate from almost any wound...though he possesses a particularly hyper-reactive version of this ability that, triggered at the end of adolescence, results in his impending doom as a multiple useless-limb growing hermaphrodite. (And you thought YOUR puberty was rough.)
Determined to be useful to his father for what little time he has left, Lanik sets off on a covert mission to spy on one of the neighboring families, which seems poised for uninhibited conquest of much of the planet. From there...Lanik's quest becomes more of an Odyssey. And one that traverses the manipulations of time, matter, and perceptions of reality.
Not entirely what I was expecting, yet wholly original. Orson Scott Card's pacing pulls you along at a steady clip. The world-building is vast and lurid...as is the array of moral and ethical questions that are inevitably raised. The concept itself is dense. To me, it felt almost too much so to be contained by a single book. Due to the more medieval feel and semi-mystical elements, it also spent a good deal of time feeling more like a fantasy than a sci-fi. The attempted 'romantic' elements really didn't do anything for me, personally. I don't think their removal would have lessened the piece in any way.
While this book wasn't really my thing, it won't stop me from checking out a few more of his books.
The setting is that of a prison planet, inhabited by family-based clans that have all been exiled--paying penance a thousand years after a failed uprising. Each family has advanced dramatically in a particular area of specialty ranging from physics, to philosophy, to genetics, and offer their particular/peculiar services in exchange for an element that is critical to their eventual escape, but not conveniently native to the planet – Iron.
The story itself follows a young man named Lanik, who's family have the genetic capacity to rapidly regenerate from almost any wound...though he possesses a particularly hyper-reactive version of this ability that, triggered at the end of adolescence, results in his impending doom as a multiple useless-limb growing hermaphrodite. (And you thought YOUR puberty was rough.)
Determined to be useful to his father for what little time he has left, Lanik sets off on a covert mission to spy on one of the neighboring families, which seems poised for uninhibited conquest of much of the planet. From there...Lanik's quest becomes more of an Odyssey. And one that traverses the manipulations of time, matter, and perceptions of reality.
Not entirely what I was expecting, yet wholly original. Orson Scott Card's pacing pulls you along at a steady clip. The world-building is vast and lurid...as is the array of moral and ethical questions that are inevitably raised. The concept itself is dense. To me, it felt almost too much so to be contained by a single book. Due to the more medieval feel and semi-mystical elements, it also spent a good deal of time feeling more like a fantasy than a sci-fi. The attempted 'romantic' elements really didn't do anything for me, personally. I don't think their removal would have lessened the piece in any way.
While this book wasn't really my thing, it won't stop me from checking out a few more of his books.
July 15, 2016
It’s been a while since I last read an Orson Scott Card book, and I had forgotten how thoroughly his stories draw me in. This was no exception, and I found myself unable to put the book down, neglecting other things I needed to do to read “just a few more pages”. Card has created a fascinating new world, one that is both alien and yet still strangely plausible and compelling. The planet Treason is a prison, its inhabitants the descendants of those who rebelled against a vaguely defined “Republic” off-world and condemned to this planet that is devoid of accessible hard metal. Now, after thousands of years, the nations of Treason struggle to find a commodity that they can sell off-world for precious iron. In a world where these metals is exceptionally rare, the nation that controls the supply holds the keys to power.
As always, Card demonstrates his skill as a storyteller, providing us with rich characters and a story layered with meanings and lessons. Ultimately, this story explores the meaning of freedom, the questions of war and peace, and the circumstances that might justify the use of violence. This is an entirely entertaining and satisfying story that also provides ample food for thought.
As always, Card demonstrates his skill as a storyteller, providing us with rich characters and a story layered with meanings and lessons. Ultimately, this story explores the meaning of freedom, the questions of war and peace, and the circumstances that might justify the use of violence. This is an entirely entertaining and satisfying story that also provides ample food for thought.
January 11, 2022
I read "Treason" hoping to find another work of genius by the author of "Ender's Game" and "Speaker For the Dead". Instead, I found proof that no one is infallible. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! For some reason (possibly because Card was young when he wrote it), the author tries to be shocking and edgy in this story, but the wannabe-scandalous content just comes across as clumsily and sophomorically offensive. On top of that, this book poses as science-fiction, but it's really more like fantasy, and overall it's just kind of dumb. It is weird enough to be interesting, but it's also overlong and the protagonist is completely dull. I stuck with it all the way through to the end, but what a disappointment!
March 22, 2018
Wow. This may have been the most original fantasy/sci-fi story I have ever read! It was a remarkable story about what could eventually happen when the scientific elites of an intergalactic government are exiled to a planet with limited resources away from the rest of humanity. However, the crux of this tale is not driven by such political theater, but by the main protagonist, Lanik, and his coming of age through puberty. This is a must read for any fantasy or sci-fi fan. It really was a one of a kind Hero's Journey. Ender's Game is one of my favorite books of all time, and Orson Scott Card does not disappoint with Treason.
December 18, 2007
This book is fabulous. It is tweaky in only the best kind of way that Orson Scott Card is awesome at. I got this book from the library freshman year and all my friends borrowed it and somehow it got lost and I had to pay the library $60 for a $5 book. They look down on "lost books" I guess. BUT even that could not sully my memory of this crown masterpiece of a book!
January 5, 2017
I was intrigued by the book jacket description, and I've enjoyed almost every book I've read by this author, but found myself disappointed in several issues and descriptions. It reminded me of a sci-fi version of a cross between the Odyssey and Gulliver's Travels (neither of which are personal favorites).
February 24, 2023
I read this years ago and liked it, but rereading it in 2023 was a huge letdown. Apparently, the author is still quite racist. There are so many things I forgot about, i.e. the protagonist has horses named Himmler and Hitler, and his family owns black slaves. A neighboring country called Nkumai is full of black physicists, that everyone disparagingly call "Inkers".
July 10, 2016
Un país prisión/destierro… familias luchando por controlar el planeta, el hierro como objetivo y objeto de negociaciones… Un mundo donde nuestro protagonista “aprende” y se adapta para lograr superar al planeta Traición. Otro buen libro del genio Card ;).
August 2, 2021
How a book this weird can be this boring, I’ll never know. Card has the ability to describe the mundane in a way that is captivating and he displays that ability in tons of other novels. This one just doesn’t hit.
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